- Company strengthens management team with biopharmaceutical veteran bringing extensive commercial experience in
life-threatening rare diseases
- Tim Miller, Ph.D. continues as president and assumes chief scientific officer role
NEW YORK and CLEVELAND, April 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ABEO), a
leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel cell and gene therapies for life-threatening rare
genetic diseases, today announced the appointment of Carsten Thiel, Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer. Timothy J. Miller,
Ph.D., will remain President and assume the position of Chief Scientific Officer in charge of the company’s expanding clinical and
preclinical research programs. Dr. Thiel most recently served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he led global commercial operations bringing innovative and life-transformative
therapies for rare diseases to patients.
“The past year has been an extraordinary time in the history of Abeona, including significant progress in our
clinical development programs and establishment of our new manufacturing facility in Cleveland,” said Steven Rouhandeh, Executive
Chairman of Abeona. “As CEO, Carsten Thiel brings a unique combination of extensive experience in research and global rare
disease commercialization to Abeona. In his recent positions, he successfully created value by building cohesive talented teams,
driving the commercial success of multiple products globally and fostering entrepreneurial culture; all key aspects that will be
critical to our success in these areas in the years ahead. We are very grateful to Tim Miller for his vision and leadership that
have brought us to this pivotal stage in our business growth.”
Dr. Thiel brings 25 years of proven global biopharmaceutical industry experience, including rare and orphan
diseases, to Abeona. Prior to leading his most recent position at Alexion, he served as its Senior Vice President,
Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific where he was responsible for driving Alexion’s global commercial operations in these
regions, including maximizing the current rare disease portfolio as well as guiding the launch of anticipated new products and
indications.
“I am thrilled to be joining Abeona during a period of major growth and momentum in the company’s range of
promising development programs,” said Dr. Thiel. “I look forward to bringing my experience in business development,
biomedical research and commercialization to the outstanding Abeona team at a time when the company is ideally positioned to
rapidly expand these areas.”
Prior to joining Alexion, Dr. Thiel served as Vice President, Head of Europe at Amgen. In this role, he led
regional operations and was responsible for multiple products in hematology/oncology, nephrology, and bone disorders, and prepared
for new product launches in inflammation and cardiology. He also held various other senior leadership positions at Amgen, including
General Manager, Germany, and General Manager, CEE, where he led all markets in Eastern Europe and established Amgen’s operations
in Russia. He also served as Head of the Oncology franchise in Europe during the time of several blockbuster product launches.
Prior to Amgen, Dr. Thiel held several sales and marketing leadership roles across Europe at Roche.
“As Abeona expands our innovative science and clinical research programs into new areas, I look forward to
working more closely with our research and product development teams to fuel even greater success for developing novel gene and
cell therapies,” said Dr. Miller. “We welcome Carsten to our team at Abeona, and remain confident that our clinical advancements
and strategic decisions have solidly positioned us to plan for many promising opportunities in global product commercialization and
business strategy.”
Dr. Thiel earned his doctorate in molecular biology & biochemistry at Max Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany.
About Abeona: Abeona Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing
cell and gene therapies for life-threatening rare genetic diseases. Abeona's lead programs include EB-101 (gene-corrected skin
grafts) for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), ABO-102 (AAV-SGSH), an adeno-associated virus (AAV) based gene
therapy for Sanfilippo syndrome type A (MPS IIIA) and ABO-101 (AAV-NAGLU), an adeno-associated virus (AAV) based gene therapy for
Sanfilippo syndrome type B (MPS IIIB). Abeona is also developing ABO-201 (AAV-CLN3) gene therapy for CLN3 disease (juvenile
Batten disease), ABO-202 (AAV-CLN1) for treatment of CLN1 disease (infantile to late infantile Batten), EB-201 for epidermolysis
bullosa (EB), ABO-301 (AAV-FANCC) for Fanconi anemia (FA) disorder and ABO-302 using a novel CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing
approach to gene therapy for rare blood diseases. In addition, Abeona is developing a proprietary vector platform, AIM™, for next
generation product candidates. For more information, visit www.abeonatherapeutics.com.
Investor Contact:
Christine Silverstein
SVP, Finance & Investor Relations
Abeona Therapeutics Inc.
+1 (646) 813-4707
csilverstein@abeonatherapeutics.com
Media Contact:
Lynn Granito
Berry & Company Public Relations
+1 (212) 253-8881
lgranito@berrypr.com
This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27a of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include statements regarding the
expected expansion in our business development, biomedical research and commercialization; our belief that Dr. Miller working more
closely with our research and product development teams will fuel even greater success for the development of novel gene and cell
therapies; and our expectation that we have many promising opportunities in global product commercialization and business
strategies. We have attempted to identify forward looking statements by such terminology as “may,” will,” “anticipate,”
“believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future
events, conditions or circumstances), which constitute and are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may
differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, risks and
uncertainties, including but not limited to, continued interest in our rare disease portfolio, our ability to enroll patients in
clinical trials, the impact of competition; the ability to develop our products and technologies; the ability to secure licenses
for any technology that may be necessary to commercialize our products; the ability to achieve or obtain necessary regulatory
approvals; the impact of changes in the financial markets and global economic conditions; and other risks as may be detailed from
time to time in the Company's Annual Reports on Form 10-K and other reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The Company undertakes no obligations to make any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release
or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release, whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise.
